(CNN) -- Residents of the New Jersey town where a priest was found dead in the kitchen of his church's rectory Friday morning should exercise caution, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi said.

Due to the nature of the wounds, the death of the Rev. Ed Hinds, 61, of St. Patrick's Church "in all likelihood was in fact a homicide," Bianchi told reporters at a news conference Friday afternoon.

He said investigators believe Hinds was killed sometime between 11 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Friday, when his death was discovered after he failed to show up for morning Mass. He was fully dressed in a black clerical robe when police arrived on the scene, Bianchi said.